Perversion Story

Having recently seen Quentin Tarantino & Robert Rodriguez' Grindhouse I was reminded of the look and feel of their little films while watching "Perversion Story." It's a B-movie that takes place in San Francisco, yet is in Italian (although there's an option to watch it in dubbed English); It has the music of a 1980's film-noir (i.e., "Body Heat"), but the look of a B-movie/early 70's porn. But it's actually a pretty interesting mystery story that's worth watching.

It's about a doctor named George DeMurrier, whose wife Susan suffers from asthma. Going on a "business trip" George leaves his wife in the company of a nurse...When he returns, Susan is dead and she has left him a $1 million dollar insurance policy that he had no idea about. As he comes to the realization that his wife is actually dead, he ends up at a stripclub (called the Roaring Twenties, how is that for cheesy?) where he sees a woman that looks exactly like her. Well, almost. This woman just has a different hair and eye color, but the resemblance is incredible. Intrigued, George begins having an affair with the woman, Monica, while the police begin investigating George into whether he had a little more to do with his wife's death than he lets on.

Despite it's shabby look and provocative title "Perversion Story" is actually a pretty tame and entertaining movie. The movie isn't rated, but it would be an 'R' for "Some Nudity." It's title is really just a ploy to get people to rent the movie (and let's face it, it works). It's not the best film ever made, but if you can look past the cheesy-ness of it, it's not bad.

GRADE: B

This is a interesting giallo thriller that is well done in every respect.
There is some debate as to what a giallo is; but all a giallo has to be is a thriller , or a mystery film , it doesn't need black gloved killers or even one killing on screen. Those are the most popular but they really exploded onto the world in 1970 onward a year after this movie was made. The term is related to film noir directly and that's what this movie is in substance. So this is a giallo or thriller about a set up murder plot. And the films perfect jazz score adds alot of class to the precedings.
Fulci frames each scene with the hand of a master cinetographer and the performances are top notch. This is a great B movie but it is no means a gory film that would predominate giallo thrillers in the 1970's in Italy. It has a good story and the nudity and title suggest a lurid flick but in fact it is similiar to many American film noir movies from the 1940's onward. Only there is some nudity and love scenes, these type of scenes would be scene frequently in American movies during the 1970's so this predates them as well. Severin films does everything right with this film , they remastered it and it looks awesome. Other companies need to learn from Severin on how to release a older movie with style and a excellent print. Too many old movies are put out in a shabby print that is almost unwatchable. I guage b movies on their own scale and this one is at the top of that scale for it's time period of the late sixties. So if you want a well made thriller with limited violence but a engaging murder plot then you will enjoy this flick from the late great director Lucio Fulci. However if you want a wilder ride then grab Fulci's giallo classic 'lizard in a woman's skin" . It was made a few years later and it shows how much cinema had opened up by then.

Let me begin by saying that Lucio Fulci directed some awesome Italian gialli including "A Lizard in a Woman's Skin" and "Don't Torture a Duckling." "Perversion Story" is a great mystery thriller but it does not satisfy the definition of a giallo. There is no serial killer wearing black gloves and murdering beautiful women. There is only one death and her physician husband George (Jean Sorel of Fulci's "A Lizard in a Woman's Skin") is framed for her murder. Now George and his mistress must race against the clock to discover the true killer before he is executed in the gas chamber. Marisa Mell of Umberto Lenzi's "Seven Blood-Stained Orchids" is the amoral stripper who resembles George's dead wife.

This film has some great location shots of San Francisco, New York, and Paris, including the gas chamber of San Quentin prison itself. The actors are top notch. You can cut the suspense with a knife as the minutes literally tick away while poor George awaits execution. The plot is intricately woven. The script itself was written by Fulci.

I enjoyed "Perversion Story" much more than Fulci's gore fests such as "Zombie 2" and "The House by the Cemetery." The only gore was the decaying corpse of George's wife.

The DVD package from Severin was excellent. There are two discs. The first one contains both the English and Italian versions with optional English subtitles. (I always listen to the Italian version if English subtitles are available because that is how the film was meant to be watched.) The second disc contains some beautiful jazz music - eleven tracks of it - from Riz Ortolani ("The Pyjama Girl Case"). I listen to it in my car while driving to and from work.

Even though I feel that "Perversion Story" is not a true giallo, I am very glad I bought it. It deserves a place in the collection of anyone who is a fan of Italian directors such as Lucio Fulci, Dario Argento, Mario Bava, Sergio Martino, Umberto Lenzi, etc. "Perversion Story" has a lot of twists and an explosive ending that shocked me. Betrayal, deception, lust, and greed are all present in this one story. In essence, it is a true "Perversion Story" that will be difficult to forget. I highly recommend renting or buying it.